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A road map for recovery

Ensuring every patient finds the care they need after bone marrow transplant

For someone with blood cancer, a bone marrow transplant is just the start of the road to rebuilding their life.

Depending on their postcode, that road can be even harder than it needs to be.

Our report has revealed that the way in which NHS England provides for patients means many aren’t receiving the care they so desperately need – simply because of where they live.

That’s why we’re calling on the NHS and Department of Health to ensure that patients, and their families, get the treatment and support they need and deserve, wherever they are.

You can Act Now by asking your MP to support our ‘Destination Cure’ campaign, which calls on the Government to ensure all patients have access to proper care and support.

What we want

NHS England should adopt a national set of guidelines outlining what care should be provided, and how
This would address the need of every patient, whatever that need, wherever they live. And it would provide a ‘road map’ to help doctors advise patients on the help they can access, and how they can access it.

NHS England should create a seamless, national care pathway for patients recovering from a bone marrow transplant
The fractured system by which the NHS currently provides for patients poses a real risk to their chances of accessing the right care. A formal pathway, overseen nationally by NHS England, would ensure no patient gets lost along the way.

The NHS should recognise that a return to an active life is a key health outcome
Getting back to work, back to school, even just back home – these are the things patients want to achieve. And the care they receive should make them achievable.

The NHS should recognise when someone goes through a transplant, their family does too, and should provide support for them too
We want support services extended to family members, recognising the impact of cancer and transplant care can have on them as they themselves support loved ones receiving treatment.

Patients should feel empowered and in control of what is happening to them, and what options are available
Patients should be given all the information they need to understand their condition and their options. This will enable them to become part of the team making decisions about the best route to their long-term recovery.

And we want to make all this pointless
Greater research into transplantation will mean fewer post-transplant complications, and less of a need for post-transplant care. So we want to establish a network for getting new research up and running, for sharing data and findings, that will make that a reality.

How you can help

If you believe, as we do, that every transplant patients should get the care and support they deserve, then help us to make it happen.

You can Act Now by contacting your MP and asking them to support our campaign.